The pelagic feeding ecology of Thick-billed Murres in the North

• Main Author: Raruo Ogi
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1980
• Subjects: Pacific; Subarctic; Uria lomvia; uria
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1030.9793; http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/23705/1/31%281%29_P50-72.pdf

Several permanent current systems exist in the North Pacific, each of which has unique bio-oceanographic features: Within the pelagic portion of each subarctic system, Thick-billed Murres (Uria lomvia) are present and within each current system, their main prey organisms are affected by a complex of biological and environmental factors., The diet of Thick-billed Murres was analyzed, using birds drowned in salmon gill nets during the period March through June. Overall, the importance of food items, by average weight percentage, were as follows: squid (72.6%), fish (16.7%), euphausiids (10.6%) and amphipods (0.05%). Thus, squid by far proved to be the most important prey, including such species as GonaWpsis borealis (mantle length: 6.5-10.5 em), Berryteuthis magister (4-9.5 em) and B. anonychus (8-10 om). Squid larvae were also at times important, as were very large individuals. The dependence on squid is an essential character for seabird survival in the pelagic environment of the North Pacific.